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November 27th, 2007

We Got a Wii! Best Wii Games For Girls

I am super-mom in my house this month- We decided to get a Wii console for kids for Christmas. They have been IMPOSSIBLE to find and as Christmas was getting closer I thought better to snatch up when we found one then to wait… We debated between the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii and looking at games and price of games- the Wii was much better option for us. The Wii has a lot more games for kids and families while they PlayStation 3 had a very high cool factor- just wasn’t suitable for our family.
So- We bought the Wii. I do find a difference between girl Wii games and boy Wii games- they really do like different things- thou the boys will play “girl games” . I am not labelling or being gender bias ion this- I can see they like different things.

These are the games we have been renting and buying and playing with homeschool kids. I asked the girls to list the ones they would recommend and ones they wouldn’t bother with again.

Best Wii Games For Girls (8-12 years)

Cooking Mama: Cook Off for Wii This one is more fun than it sounds. You “prepare” food and cook/bake it. Points are given on how fast and how much an technique. This is good because two players can play at once and not overly competitive. My younger son (4) can also play. We have also had teenage boys here that have really liked so this has a wide appeal.
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is a BLAST! We have had so much fun with it. You are basically at the Olympics and swim, run, throw javelin, fence, etc as your favorite Mario character or Mii. We play this mostly as a family and laugh alot. It is hilarious to so my 4 year old get all sweaty when he does a swimming relay. My daughter (10) and I love to play this with each other… and my Husband happy to watch all the insanity. Highly recommend.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle If you find this for Wii- buy it- it is impossible to get anywhere.

Super Mario Galaxy for Wii HUGE hit here. Another player can “jump” in and help. Another Wii game that appeals across all age levels and girls and boys alike.

High School Musical: Sing It My daughter and her friends will do anythihg Highschool Musical. This also come with microphone, So far best price I have seen has been for 49.95. It JUST came out.

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Hands down one of the best games on Wii. If you don’t have it highly recommend.

Mario Party 8 for Wii A good one- if you are going to buy a game this is good investment has has a long term play value. Good for whole family- 4 players can play at once and games move quickly. My daughter and I play this one a lot together ;-).. perfect for sleep overs.

Wii Remotes: If in your budget and you have kids- you will be happy to have more remotes. Some games up to 4 people can play at a time and you can play as whole family or with more kids.

Trauma Center: New Blood for Wii This is perfect for 2 kids- it is a “co-operative” game and they don’t compete.

High School Musical: Sing It Bundle with Microphone For the high school Musical lover. ( most girls under 13 fit this category.) This has a good Karaoke twist to it.

The Sims 2: Castaway for Wii i don;t understand the appeal to be honest- I just know that my daughter and her friends are INSANE for this game. It is never available to rent either :-). The premise is that your Sims are stranded on an unexplored island paradise, you must help them to build a new life. Sim Family Robinson?

The Sims 2 Pets Very big. Girls will play for hours with this. Boys don’t seem to enjoy the Sims 2 stuff as much. I think girls like the making and creating of characters angle of the game.

Wii Play with Wii Remote I recommend this because you get the Wii game pack AND remote for about the same cost of a remote. You can play fishing, Pool(which for some reason the kids love), Ping Pong, etc

Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party Bundle You be favorite Aunt for sure if you get this! Comes with “dance pad” etc . Like the dance revolution you see in arcades. Kids get QUITE the workout. Boys also like alot. Moms … not so much .. I prefer not to get sweaty when I play video games :-)

Wii Wario Ware: Smooth Moves Very Very fun!

Other Wii Stuff To Get

Wii Nunchuk Controller The Wii game console come with one and the only time we have really “needed” another was in boxing. They are cheap- 15.00 so make a good stocking stuffer but don’t worry about getting more.

Wii Chargeable remote packs For some bizarre reason- Wii remotes use batteries! It has not been a big deal in our house- but I HATE throwing out batteries. You can by a rechargeable battery and charger pack ( they come in sets of 2) for not that much money- about 16.00 for two. I really don’t know why Nintendo did this.

Games that flopped:
Rapala Tournament Fishing We just couldn’t get into it- and graphics were awful.

Maybe its us- but we were sure we “needed” the Wii Sport Pack that turns your remote into a baseball bat, tennis racket, etc and it turned out to be more of pain than anything… I suppose you could get two of them instead of switching remotes back and forth- also if you have any kids of a :skin” on remote you have to take off. We just never use so i would save 20.00 and get a game or another Nunchuk instead.

I will try and update as We Try New Games.

Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Fun Stuff, Reviews and Recommendations, Video Games at 12:17 PM EST

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November 25th, 2007

Ontario School Board Bans Book- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass)
Here we go….
I support EVERYONES right to free thought and that includes the right to not believe in a god.

When I read stories like this is makes me fume. How would Christians react if humanists/atheists demanded books with Christian dogma where pulled? From my understanding the book, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman was pulled because of authors belief’s and not the actually content of the book.

Here is a well thought out comment by believer:

John
There are many books in our libraries written by atheists. For a believer such philosophical musings can strengthen personal faith in God. It is the duty of parents to live out and share their faith daily with their children.

I have heard this sentiment from other Christians and applaud their reasoning. Faith is nor real unless you are drawn toward it - not slammed into it by others.

Controversy erupts after schools pull ‘atheist’ book
Updated Fri. Nov. 23 2007 3:10 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The Centre for Inquiry and the Canadian Secular Alliance is calling an Ontario school board’s decision to remove a children’s book from its library shelves, “an overt example of the discrimination against atheists by the religious.”

The Halton Catholic District School Board ordered “The Golden Compass” to be removed from library shelves at dozens of schools after receiving a request for review from a member of the community.

The book, written by popular British author Philip Pullman, has won numerous awards including the Maine Student Book Award and the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults award.

Justin Trottier, executive director of the Centre for Inquiry Ontario, is urging the books be returned to shelves “so that libraries may continue to be places of learning and imagination.”

“Some of our greatest authors, philosophers and scientists have been atheists. If books written by atheists are banned for not conforming to Catholic worldviews, will the school board proceed to ban books deemed pro-Muslim, pro-Buddhist, or even pro-Protestant if they are critical of Catholicism?,” Trottier asked in a statement on Thursday.

“Pretty soon the only book in their library may be the Bible.”

The board — which oversees some 43 elementary and secondary schools in Ontario — has pulled the book from public display and two other Pullman titles from the “Dark Materials” trilogy. The books are available to students upon request.

Committee to review book

Scott Millard, manager of library services with the board, told CTV.ca on Friday that the review has been board policy since 1990 and that “any community member has the right to request a re-examination of learning or library material.”

“We are an integral part of the community and people have the right to ask us about the resources we have,” Millard said.

The Halton board has since set up a 12-member committee to review the book and recommend whether it should be available to students.

“It represents a wide variety of people, trustees, teachers, principals and consultants so that we have a wide variety of input,” Millard said.

After reading the book, the committee will complete an evaluation form that examines a “wide variety of criteria” including grammar, plausibility, language, plot, etc.

“We’re evaluating the book ‘The Golden Compass’ — we’re not evaluating the author, it’s the book we’re looking at,” Millard said.

A memo issued by the board says the books are “apparently written by an atheist where the characters and text are anti-God, anti-Catholic and anti-religion,” the Toronto Star reported.

After evaluations forms are received, the committee will submit recommendations to the board of trustees, who will then vote on whether the book is suitable for students.

More controversy

The Dufferin-Peel Catholic board in Ontario is also conducting an informal review into the content of the book. Staff members have been asked to read the book and report back on the plot, the newspaper said.

Similar concerns prompted a Catholic organization in the U.S. to urge parents to boycott a movie version of the book that is set for release next month.

Trottier compared the recent backlash to the campaign against Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses.”

The novel prompted Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa — a religious edict — against the author for insulting Islam that spurred death threats and inevitably forced Rushie into exile.

“While the campaign against ‘The Golden Compass’ is a mere microcosm of the ‘Satanic Verses’ affair, it is still an overt example of the discrimination against atheists by the religious,” Trottier wrote.

Pullman, known for his “legendary atheism” in the British press, has never shied away from his controversial views on religion.

“The trouble is that all too often in human history, churches and priesthoods have set themselves up to rule people’s lives in the name of some invisible god (and they’re all invisible, because they don’t exist) — and done terrible damage,” Pullman writes on his website.

“In the name of their god, they have burned, hanged, tortured, maimed, robbed, violated, and enslaved millions of their fellow creatures, and done so with the happy conviction that they were doing the will of God, and they would go to Heaven for it.”

Article source: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071123/compass_books_071123/20071123?hub=Canada

Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Book Recommendations, General Homeschool and Unschooling at 12:38 PM EST

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November 24th, 2007

Top 100 Banned Books from American Library Association

This is the most recent information available. These are books that have been challenged the most from 1990-2000. ( note not using the word “banned” ) according to the ALA ( American Library Association)

Here is List of Challenged Books from the American Library Association

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine Lengle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm

Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Book Recommendations at 12:42 PM EST

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Free Role Playing Games Online for Kids

Homeschooling Times has put together list of free online role playing games that are kids friendly- see the list here: Free Online Role Playing (MMORPG)

Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as General Homeschool and Unschooling at 12:38 PM EST

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November 23rd, 2007

Some GREAT deals on Nintendo DS Games, X-Box, WebKinz, Wii games, etc

Amazon has a zillion deals today- here are just a few:
Note: Found it bit confusing to find navigate… easy to get lost and “out” of the deals section)

Amazon Black Friday Deals

Webkinz- 6.00
Nintendo DS MySims 24.99
Halo 3 Legendary Edition $79.99
Bioshock $39.99
Gears of War $39.99
Rainbow Six Vegas Limited Edition $19.99
PlayStation 3 SIXAXIS controller $19.99
Dirt $29.99
Puzzle Quest $9.99
Select Wii Games $19.99
New York Time CrossWord Puzzles for Nintendo DS $9.99

$149.99

Nintendo DS Lite Metallic Rose with Nintendogs Best Friends

World of Warcraft Battlechest $19.99
World of Warcraft $9.99

They are also having hourly deals:

Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Freebies , Coupons and Money Saving Ideas, General Homeschool and Unschooling at 12:26 PM EST

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